How and where to buy, sell and store Bytom Coins (BTM) in the US.
Bytom is a Chinese blockchain project that is developing a protocol to combine multiple assets into one blockchain solution. The aim is to facilitate the exchange of warrants, securities, bonds and a wide range of other digital assets between blockchains.
Bytom Coins (BTM) are used to represent the right of ownership of the Bytom platform and the right to use it. At the time of this writing (April 2018), BTM is one of the world’s 30 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, so read on to find out how Bytom works and how to buy BTM in the US.
Where to buy BTM
You can buy BTM coins from several cryptocurrency exchanges, including:
A step-by-step guide to buying BTM
If you want to buy Bytom coins, here’s what you need to do:
Step 1. Register for an account on a cryptocurrency exchange that lists BTM
BTM isn’t available on every possible crypto exchange, so the first step is to search for an exchange that lists this digital currency in one or more pairings. Once you’ve found a suitable platform, provide your email address and password to sign up for an account.
Depending on the platform you choose, you may also need to provide your name, address, contact details and proof of ID to satisfy know your customer/anti-money laundering (KYC/AML) requirements.
Don’t forget to also enable 2-factor authentication (if available) on your account to provide extra security and peace of mind.
Step 2. Deposit funds into your account
Before going any further, it’s important to point out that most exchanges don’t allow you to buy BTM with fiat currency such as US dollars. Instead, you’ll need to exchange your BTM with another cryptocurrency such as bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH).
To transfer these crypto coins into your exchange account, log in and look for the “Deposit” link. Copy the address for your wallet and then transfer the necessary amount.
Step 3. Buy BTM
Now it’s time to navigate to the exchange or markets section of your chosen crypto exchange. Search for your desired currency pairing, such as BTM/BTC, and click on “Buy BTM”. You can then enter the details of your transaction, including the amount you want to spend or the number of BTM coins you want to buy.
Make sure you take a moment to check all the details of the transaction before finalizing your purchase.
How to sell BTM
If you want to sell Bytom Coins, the process you’ll need to follow is similar to Step 3 above. The obvious difference is that you’ll need to look for the “Sell BTM” box instead. It’s also important to remember that you may not be able to exchange BTM for the currency (either crypto or fiat) that you want.
Which wallets can I use to hold BTM?
While you can store your BTM coins in your exchange wallet if you wish, doing so will expose you to an increased level of security risks. It’s generally recommended that anyone looking for long-term coin storage move their funds into a private wallet.
You’ll find a link to the official Bytom desktop wallet on the project’s website. However, as BTM coins are ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum network, you can also store them in any ERC20-compatible wallet, such as MyEtherWallet or the Ledger Nano S and TREZOR hardware wallets.
How Bytom works
Launched in January 2017, Bytom is a blockchain protocol focused on acting as an intermediary between generalized and specialized blockchains.
What does it hope to achieve? This is best outlined in the Bytom whitepaper:
“Heterogenous byte-assets (indigenous digital currency, digital assets) that operate in different forms on the Bytom Blockchain and atomic assets (warrants, securities, dividends, bonds, intelligence information, forecasting information and other information that exists in the physical world) can be registered, exchanged, gambled and engaged in other more complicated and contract-based interoperations via Bytom. The protocol connects the atomic world and the byteworld to promote the interaction and circulation of assets between the two worlds.”
To achieve this goal, Bytom uses a three-layer architecture that consists of:
- An application layer. This mobile-compatible layer is designed to make it easy and convenient for developers to create asset management applications.
- A contract layer. This uses genesis contract and control contracts to issue and manage assets.
- A data transmission layer. This uses distributed ledger technology to provide asset issuance, spending, transfer and other operations.
Bytom’s testnet was launched in September 2017, and the mainnet has just been released as of April 2018.
What to consider when buying BTM
Cryptocurrencies are not only highly volatile, they’re also quite complicated. There is a myriad of factors that can influence the price movements of different digital coins and tokens, so it’s essential that you do your own research before deciding whether or not you should buy BTM.
If you’re thinking of purchasing any BTM, remember to consider the following factors:
- Supply. According to CoinMarketCap, at the time of this writing (April 2018), the circulating supply of Bytom Coins was 987,000,000 BTM, out of a total supply of 1,407,000,000 BTM. The coins were issued in the project’s June/July 2017 ICO, which raised 8,400 BTC and saw the coins distributed as follows:
- Private equity investors: 7%
- ICO distribution: 30%
- Reserved for Bytom Foundation: 20%
- Business development: 10%
- Mining rewards: 33%
- Use. As the native asset of the Bytom blockchain, Bytom Coins represent both rights of ownership of the Bytom platform and the right to use it. BTM can be used to pay transaction fees for asset trading, pay dividends of income assets and as deposits for asset issuance. The maximum supply is capped at 2.1 billion tokens.
- Partnerships. Current and future partnerships can have a bearing on the potential growth (or otherwise) of any crypto project. The Bytom team has inked deals with imToken and East Lake Big Data Asset Exchange.
- Whitepaper. Want to know more about the technology behind Bytom and the problems it aims to address? Check out the project’s whitepaper.
- Still being developed. Bytom’s mainnet was launched on 4/24/18. While this is exciting news for the project, it also means that the Bytom blockchain is still undergoing development, and it has not yet proved that it’ll be able to fully deliver on its potential.
- Team. Bytom is led by Chang Jia, the founder of Chinese crypto news site 8btc, and former OKCoin president Duan Xinxing. You can also find out more about the team behind the project and their development experience by visiting the Bytom website.
Bearing in mind these considerations and by doing your own research, you’ll be well informed to make a decision about buying BTM.
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